Automating form-based processes through annotation

  • Authors:

  • Sung Wook Kim;Hye-Young Paik;Ingo Weber

  • Affiliations:

  • School of Computer Science & Engineering, University of New South Wales, Australia;School of Computer Science & Engineering, University of New South Wales, Australia;School of Computer Science & Engineering, University of New South Wales, Australia,Software Systems Research Group, NICTA, Sydney, Australia

  • Venue:
  • ICSOC'12 Proceedings of the 10th international conference on Service-Oriented Computing
  • Year:
  • 2012

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Abstract

Despite all efforts to support processes through IT, processes based on paper forms are still prevalent. In this paper, we propose a cost-effective and non-technical approach to automate form-based processes. The approach builds on several types of annotations: to help collect and distribute information for form fields; to choose appropriate process execution paths; and to support email distribution or approval for filled forms. We implemented the approach in a prototype, called EzyForms. We conducted a user study with 15 participants, showing that people with little technical background were able to automate the existing form-based processes efficiently.